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28th September 1966: Contestants at a Southern TV beauty contest relaxing with a cup of tea and a biscuit. (Photo by Powell/Express/Getty Images)Powell/Express/Getty Images

Rob Crossan

Last updated at 12:01AM, March 31 2011

Prince William’s request for Rich Tea cake at his wedding represents the nation, which eats more biscuits than any other

The smell is like a million birthday cakes. It’s a slightly burnt, toasty
scent that envelops the whole of the United Biscuits factory floor as their
daily run of 2.7 million biscuits including top sellers such as McVitie’s
Rich Tea and Chocolate Digestives flows hypnotically across numerous
conveyor belts.

United is far and away the leading player in the UK industry — owning names
such as McVitie’s, Carr’s and Jacob’s — everywhere I look there are vast
bins of rejected biscuits, 3ft deep, which are reused as animal feed.